Audit finds fault with Vernon Council on Aging

The Vernon Parish Council on Aging may have violated state ethics laws when it promoted the executive director’s daughter
to chief financial officer, according to a report issued by the state Legislative Auditor’s Office.

The report, released Monday, also said the office engaged in prohibited contractual agreements to several employees for work
unrelated to their duties, leading to a failure to pay taxes on those additional wages.

In 2006, Executive Director Marvis Chance hired his daughter, Lila Abshier, for part-time employment and promoted her to CFO
in 2009. According to the report, her hiring may be a violation of state nepotism laws.

“With GOD as my witness,” reads a
letter from Chance to the auditor included in the report, “I can claim
with all sincerity
that I have in no manner shown Ms. Abshier any favoritism and I
would not hesitate to either discipline or reprimand her if
in fact this should have ever been needed.”

Abshier has since been moved so that
Chance is no longer her direct supervisor and no longer has access to
the signature card
the organization uses for banking. In the letter to the auditors,
Chance said Abshier is “sorely needed, as no one else knows
how to perform this capacity or the various and sundry computer
programs she skillfully manages.”

He said that because the board of directors unanimously approved Abshier for the position, it should not be considered an
ethics violation.

Three employees were found to have been
compensated for contractual work outside of their regular duties. State
law mandates
that “no public servant shall bid on or enter into any contract,
subcontract or other transaction that is under the supervision
or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant.”

“I know ignorance for the law is no excuse,” said Chance. “But I was unaware that it was illegal as for the contractual part.”

One part-time office assistant received
an additional $62,111 from June 30, 2010, to June 26, 2013, for
janitorial and transportation
services. The transit director, a former mechanic, was compensated
$5,139 for vehicle maintenance from June 2010 to March
of this year, and an office manager earned $1,598 for washing
vehicles March 2011-August 2012.

The state auditor recommended the group consult legal counsel and the state Ethics Board.